This book reevaluates modern scholarly approaches to ancient Jewish cultic rituals, arguing that sacrifice in particular has been long misunderstood. Various religious and cultural ideologies ...
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This book reevaluates modern scholarly approaches to ancient Jewish cultic rituals, arguing that sacrifice in particular has been long misunderstood. Various religious and cultural ideologies (especially supersessionist ones) have frequently prevented scholars from seeing the Jerusalem temple as a powerful source of meaning and symbolism to those ancient Jews who worshiped there. Such approaches are exposed and countered by reviewing the theoretical literature on sacrifice and taking a fresh look at a broad range of evidence concerning ancient Jewish attitudes toward the temple and its sacrificial cult. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, this work argues for a symbolic understanding of a broad range of cultic practices, including both purity rituals and sacrificial acts. The prophetic literature is also reexamined, with an eye toward clarifying the relationship between the prophets and the sacrificial cult. Later ancient Jewish symbolic understandings of the cult are also revealed in sources including Josephus, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. A number of ancient Jews certainly did believe that the temple was temporarily tainted or defiled in some fashion, including the Dead Sea sectarians and Jesus. But they continued to speak of the temple in metaphorical terms, and — like practically all ancient Jews — believed in the cult, accepted its symbolic significance, and hoped for its ultimate efficacy.Less

Purity, Sacrifice, and the Temple : Symbolism and Supersessionism in the Study of Ancient Judaism

Jonathan Klawans

Published in print: 2005-11-24

This book reevaluates modern scholarly approaches to ancient Jewish cultic rituals, arguing that sacrifice in particular has been long misunderstood. Various religious and cultural ideologies (especially supersessionist ones) have frequently prevented scholars from seeing the Jerusalem temple as a powerful source of meaning and symbolism to those ancient Jews who worshiped there. Such approaches are exposed and countered by reviewing the theoretical literature on sacrifice and taking a fresh look at a broad range of evidence concerning ancient Jewish attitudes toward the temple and its sacrificial cult. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, this work argues for a symbolic understanding of a broad range of cultic practices, including both purity rituals and sacrificial acts. The prophetic literature is also reexamined, with an eye toward clarifying the relationship between the prophets and the sacrificial cult. Later ancient Jewish symbolic understandings of the cult are also revealed in sources including Josephus, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Rabbinic literature. A number of ancient Jews certainly did believe that the temple was temporarily tainted or defiled in some fashion, including the Dead Sea sectarians and Jesus. But they continued to speak of the temple in metaphorical terms, and — like practically all ancient Jews — believed in the cult, accepted its symbolic significance, and hoped for its ultimate efficacy.

This chapter introduces the world of Christians — who came from both the Greek religious environment (Gentile Christians) and Judaism (Jewish Christians) — but also from the group of pagans who were ...
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This chapter introduces the world of Christians — who came from both the Greek religious environment (Gentile Christians) and Judaism (Jewish Christians) — but also from the group of pagans who were ready to convert to Judaism (the so-called ‘God-fearers’). Emphasizing the multiplicity of backgrounds, the chapter aims at warning the reader that conclusions concerning early Christianity and its relation to animal sacrifice cannot be definite, especially as regards the Christians who lived in Jerusalem that is next to the Temple, before AD 70.Less

A Bridge Linking Greek Religion and Judaism to Christianity

Maria‐Zoe Petropoulou

Published in print: 2008-03-06

This chapter introduces the world of Christians — who came from both the Greek religious environment (Gentile Christians) and Judaism (Jewish Christians) — but also from the group of pagans who were ready to convert to Judaism (the so-called ‘God-fearers’). Emphasizing the multiplicity of backgrounds, the chapter aims at warning the reader that conclusions concerning early Christianity and its relation to animal sacrifice cannot be definite, especially as regards the Christians who lived in Jerusalem that is next to the Temple, before AD 70.

Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and ...
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Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and imperial cult institutions were in direct contradiction regarding cosmology and eschatology. The exaggerated cosmology of imperial cult institutions resulted in an absurd eschatology – their emphasis on Roman imperial order was so strong that they could not envision an end to Roman rule. Revelation, on the other hand, denigrated all temporal authority and focused attention on the throne of God in heaven and the eschatological inauguration of the New Jerusalem. In this way, the author of Revelation produced one of humanity's great religious critiques of hegemony, a critique that attempted to establish and maintain a just community in the face of imperial oppression.Less

Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John : Reading Revelation in the Ruins

Steven J. Friesen

Published in print: 2001-11-15

Examines the relationship between imperial cults and the Book of Revelation, focusing especially on the Roman province of Asia during the early Empire. The main argument is that Revelation and imperial cult institutions were in direct contradiction regarding cosmology and eschatology. The exaggerated cosmology of imperial cult institutions resulted in an absurd eschatology – their emphasis on Roman imperial order was so strong that they could not envision an end to Roman rule. Revelation, on the other hand, denigrated all temporal authority and focused attention on the throne of God in heaven and the eschatological inauguration of the New Jerusalem. In this way, the author of Revelation produced one of humanity's great religious critiques of hegemony, a critique that attempted to establish and maintain a just community in the face of imperial oppression.

Pierre de la Palud was a friar of aristocratic birth who was appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1329. This biography follows the course of his eventful life, and exploits his copious writings to ...
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Pierre de la Palud was a friar of aristocratic birth who was appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1329. This biography follows the course of his eventful life, and exploits his copious writings to build up a vivid picture of the man and the world he inhabited. Lawyer, advocate, preacher, reformer, theologian, politician, encyclopedist, crusader – Pierre was all of these, and the voice of each can be heard in his writing. This book traces the career of Pierre de la Palud from his early reflections on contemporary moral issues – including papal prerogatives, contraception, and usury – to his political and diplomatic activities as Patriarch of Jerusalem. From Dominican friar to French courtier, the variety of Pierre's experience and the range of his writings reflect the turbulence of the fourteenth-century Christian church.Less

A Hound of God : Pierre de la Palud and the Fourteenth-Century Church

Jean Dunbabin

Published in print: 1991-01-03

Pierre de la Palud was a friar of aristocratic birth who was appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1329. This biography follows the course of his eventful life, and exploits his copious writings to build up a vivid picture of the man and the world he inhabited. Lawyer, advocate, preacher, reformer, theologian, politician, encyclopedist, crusader – Pierre was all of these, and the voice of each can be heard in his writing. This book traces the career of Pierre de la Palud from his early reflections on contemporary moral issues – including papal prerogatives, contraception, and usury – to his political and diplomatic activities as Patriarch of Jerusalem. From Dominican friar to French courtier, the variety of Pierre's experience and the range of his writings reflect the turbulence of the fourteenth-century Christian church.

Arie Morgenstern

Published in print:

2006

Published Online:

May 2006

ISBN:

9780195305784

eISBN:

9780199784820

Item type:

book

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

DOI:

10.1093/0195305787.001.0001

Subject:

Religion, Judaism

Offering a novel understanding of the origins of renewed Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in modern times, this book situates that settlement in the context of Jewish messianism and traces it ...
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Offering a novel understanding of the origins of renewed Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in modern times, this book situates that settlement in the context of Jewish messianism and traces it to a wave of messianic fervor that swept the Jewish world during the first half of the 19th century. Believing that the Messiah would appear in the year 5600 AM (1840 CE), thousands of Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel from throughout the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. This book focuses primarily on the immigration (“aliyah”) of the disciples of the Ga’on of Vilna, the Eastern European opponents of Hasidism (known in the Land of Israel as the Perushim) who, notwithstanding their vaunted rationalism, were characterized by a strong mystical and messianic bent. In recounting their story, the book describes their complex and changing relationships with the ruling Ottoman and Egyptian authorities, with the Anglican missionaries then active in Jerusalem (principally the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews), and with the Organization of Peqidim and Amarkalim (Clerk’s organization) in Amsterdam and its head, Zevi Hirsch Lehren. The book makes extensive use of the newly discovered archives of the Peqidim and Amarkalim, of the diaries and journals of the Anglican missionaries, of kabbalistic texts from throughout North Africa and the Near East, and of previously unavailable manuscripts by the disciples of the Vilna Ga’on. Finally, the book recounts the varied responses to the Messiah’s failure to appear in 1840, and the continued growth in the Jewish community, a precursor to the emergence of modern political Zionism in the late 19th century.Less

Hastening Redemption : Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel

Arie Morgenstern

Published in print: 2006-07-01

Offering a novel understanding of the origins of renewed Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in modern times, this book situates that settlement in the context of Jewish messianism and traces it to a wave of messianic fervor that swept the Jewish world during the first half of the 19th century. Believing that the Messiah would appear in the year 5600 AM (1840 CE), thousands of Jews immigrated to the Land of Israel from throughout the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. This book focuses primarily on the immigration (“aliyah”) of the disciples of the Ga’on of Vilna, the Eastern European opponents of Hasidism (known in the Land of Israel as the Perushim) who, notwithstanding their vaunted rationalism, were characterized by a strong mystical and messianic bent. In recounting their story, the book describes their complex and changing relationships with the ruling Ottoman and Egyptian authorities, with the Anglican missionaries then active in Jerusalem (principally the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews), and with the Organization of Peqidim and Amarkalim (Clerk’s organization) in Amsterdam and its head, Zevi Hirsch Lehren. The book makes extensive use of the newly discovered archives of the Peqidim and Amarkalim, of the diaries and journals of the Anglican missionaries, of kabbalistic texts from throughout North Africa and the Near East, and of previously unavailable manuscripts by the disciples of the Vilna Ga’on. Finally, the book recounts the varied responses to the Messiah’s failure to appear in 1840, and the continued growth in the Jewish community, a precursor to the emergence of modern political Zionism in the late 19th century.

Book VII describes Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372. Within a chronological framework the book describes the outward journey from Rome, via Naples and Cyprus, to Jerusalem and ...
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Book VII describes Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372. Within a chronological framework the book describes the outward journey from Rome, via Naples and Cyprus, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The two central visions are the crucifixion and nativity, both thought to have had an influence on subsequent depictions in Christian iconography and art. There are messages concerning the political situation in Cyprus and a secular political message is thereby woven into the devotional visions and underlines their contemporary impact. Birgitta’s death and some of her final messages to humankind are recorded at the end of the book.Less

Here Begins The Prologue to The Last Book

Published in print: 2012-03-01

Book VII describes Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372. Within a chronological framework the book describes the outward journey from Rome, via Naples and Cyprus, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The two central visions are the crucifixion and nativity, both thought to have had an influence on subsequent depictions in Christian iconography and art. There are messages concerning the political situation in Cyprus and a secular political message is thereby woven into the devotional visions and underlines their contemporary impact. Birgitta’s death and some of her final messages to humankind are recorded at the end of the book.

Whereas much recent work on the ethics of the Hebrew Bible addresses the theological task of using the Bible as a moral resource for today, this book aims to set Ezekiel's ethics firmly in the social ...
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Whereas much recent work on the ethics of the Hebrew Bible addresses the theological task of using the Bible as a moral resource for today, this book aims to set Ezekiel's ethics firmly in the social and historical context of the Babylonian Exile. The two ‘moral worlds’ of Jerusalem and Babylonia provide the key. Ezekiel explains the disaster in terms familiar to his audience's past experience as members of Judah's political elite. He also provides ethical strategies for coping with the more limited possibilities of life in Babylonia, which include the ritualization of ethics, an increasing emphasis on the domestic and personal sphere of action, and a shift towards human passivity in the face of restoration. Thus, the prophet's moral concerns and priorities are substantially shaped by the social experience of deportation and resettlement. They also represent a creative response to the crisis, providing significant impetus for social cohesion and the maintenance of a distinctively Jewish community.Less

Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile

Andrew Mein

Published in print: 2006-01-05

Whereas much recent work on the ethics of the Hebrew Bible addresses the theological task of using the Bible as a moral resource for today, this book aims to set Ezekiel's ethics firmly in the social and historical context of the Babylonian Exile. The two ‘moral worlds’ of Jerusalem and Babylonia provide the key. Ezekiel explains the disaster in terms familiar to his audience's past experience as members of Judah's political elite. He also provides ethical strategies for coping with the more limited possibilities of life in Babylonia, which include the ritualization of ethics, an increasing emphasis on the domestic and personal sphere of action, and a shift towards human passivity in the face of restoration. Thus, the prophet's moral concerns and priorities are substantially shaped by the social experience of deportation and resettlement. They also represent a creative response to the crisis, providing significant impetus for social cohesion and the maintenance of a distinctively Jewish community.

This chapter examines the role of the Holy Land as a singular setting for the Christological controversies in the 5th century. In the context of pilgrimage to the numerous holy places, Peter’s own ...
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This chapter examines the role of the Holy Land as a singular setting for the Christological controversies in the 5th century. In the context of pilgrimage to the numerous holy places, Peter’s own role as a pilgrim to the Holy Land comes into focus. The spiritual and political implications of his personal pilgrimage as well as the sensitivities of anti-Chalcedonians concerning the fact that the holy places were in the hands of ‘heretical’ Chalcedonians are crucial to understand both Peter’s role as well as the model held out for future generations by Rufus.Less

Weaving the Crown of Pilgrimage: The Spiritual and Polemical Dimensions of Pilgrimage and the Holy Places from an Anti‐Chalcedonian Perspective

Cornelia B. Horn

Published in print: 2006-03-09

This chapter examines the role of the Holy Land as a singular setting for the Christological controversies in the 5th century. In the context of pilgrimage to the numerous holy places, Peter’s own role as a pilgrim to the Holy Land comes into focus. The spiritual and political implications of his personal pilgrimage as well as the sensitivities of anti-Chalcedonians concerning the fact that the holy places were in the hands of ‘heretical’ Chalcedonians are crucial to understand both Peter’s role as well as the model held out for future generations by Rufus.

One of the major tasks of Mendelssohn and other Jewish thinkers is to formulate a larger vision of the Enlightenment, in which the Jews would not only participate but also take the lead. In Jerusalem ...
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One of the major tasks of Mendelssohn and other Jewish thinkers is to formulate a larger vision of the Enlightenment, in which the Jews would not only participate but also take the lead. In Jerusalem (Berlin, 1783), Mendelssohn presents Jewish liturgies as particularly sophisticated forms of rational and theological semiosis. The group performance of Jewish liturgies is a signifying event in which the dynamism of God's spirit and the living wisdom and guidance of God's Torah is represented. Thus, liturgical semiosis is especially important to Judaism because it defeats all idolatrous attempts to fix spirit and wisdom in concrete forms. Mendelssohn's view is that all commandments and laws provide scripts for countless behavioral performances. This moves Jewish commandments out of the realm of civil and criminal law into a philosophical, theological, and aesthetic arena that is led by signs.Less

Liturgical Semiotics : Moses Mendelssohn's “Jerusalem”

Steven Kepnes

Published in print: 2007-11-01

One of the major tasks of Mendelssohn and other Jewish thinkers is to formulate a larger vision of the Enlightenment, in which the Jews would not only participate but also take the lead. In Jerusalem (Berlin, 1783), Mendelssohn presents Jewish liturgies as particularly sophisticated forms of rational and theological semiosis. The group performance of Jewish liturgies is a signifying event in which the dynamism of God's spirit and the living wisdom and guidance of God's Torah is represented. Thus, liturgical semiosis is especially important to Judaism because it defeats all idolatrous attempts to fix spirit and wisdom in concrete forms. Mendelssohn's view is that all commandments and laws provide scripts for countless behavioral performances. This moves Jewish commandments out of the realm of civil and criminal law into a philosophical, theological, and aesthetic arena that is led by signs.

The Jewish population of the Land of Israel more or less doubled in size between 1808 and 1840. A significant segment of the immigrants were disciples of the Vilna Ga’on, who undertook an organized ...
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The Jewish population of the Land of Israel more or less doubled in size between 1808 and 1840. A significant segment of the immigrants were disciples of the Vilna Ga’on, who undertook an organized immigration effort beginning no later than 1806. Many were motivated by messianism, but some came in an effort to escape hardship in Europe. Many settled in the Galilee, in and around Safed, while others came to Jerusalem; there was a degree of rivalry between the groups (respectively led by Israel of Shklov and Menahem Mendel of Shklov). Immigration was adversely affected by recurring epidemics, natural calamities, poverty, and political instability. It increased substantially during the relatively enlightened and stable reign of Muhammad Ali, an Egyptian who took control of the Land of Israel from the Ottomans in 1831 and remained in power through the 1830s. The Montefiore Census of 1839 shows that nearly half of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel that year were under the age of twenty.Less

Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1808–1840

Arie Morgenstern

Published in print: 2006-07-01

The Jewish population of the Land of Israel more or less doubled in size between 1808 and 1840. A significant segment of the immigrants were disciples of the Vilna Ga’on, who undertook an organized immigration effort beginning no later than 1806. Many were motivated by messianism, but some came in an effort to escape hardship in Europe. Many settled in the Galilee, in and around Safed, while others came to Jerusalem; there was a degree of rivalry between the groups (respectively led by Israel of Shklov and Menahem Mendel of Shklov). Immigration was adversely affected by recurring epidemics, natural calamities, poverty, and political instability. It increased substantially during the relatively enlightened and stable reign of Muhammad Ali, an Egyptian who took control of the Land of Israel from the Ottomans in 1831 and remained in power through the 1830s. The Montefiore Census of 1839 shows that nearly half of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel that year were under the age of twenty.

After coming to Jerusalem in 1815, the Perushim led by Menahem Mendel of Shklov, directed their principal efforts to rebuilding and resettling the Judah Hasid ruins (the Hurvah), thereby showing ...
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After coming to Jerusalem in 1815, the Perushim led by Menahem Mendel of Shklov, directed their principal efforts to rebuilding and resettling the Judah Hasid ruins (the Hurvah), thereby showing their intention to reestablish themselves in the city. In accord with the doctrine of “awakening below”, rebuilding one of Jerusalem’s ruins would represent the first step in the rebuilding of the entire city. This chapter recounts in detail the lengthy legal, political, and financial dealings that culminated with the beginning of the actual project in 1836 (under the reign of the enlightened Muhammad Ali); the new study hall in the Hurvah courtyard (named “Menahem Ziyyon”) was dedicated in January 1837. The project continued to be opposed by Israel of Shklov, the leader of the Safed Perushim who objected to the independence of the Jerusalem Perushim (now led by Zalman Zoref [Salamon]); matters were complicated by competition for funding by Zevi Hirsch Lehren and his family and continued intra-Jewish rivalries. But the success of the project was seen by the Jerusalem Perushim as evidence that the redemption was underway in earnest, a sense confirmed by the tragic earthquake that destroyed most of the Safed community in 1837.Less

“Raising the Shekhinah from the Dust” by Rebuilding Jerusalem

Arie Morgenstern

Published in print: 2006-07-01

After coming to Jerusalem in 1815, the Perushim led by Menahem Mendel of Shklov, directed their principal efforts to rebuilding and resettling the Judah Hasid ruins (the Hurvah), thereby showing their intention to reestablish themselves in the city. In accord with the doctrine of “awakening below”, rebuilding one of Jerusalem’s ruins would represent the first step in the rebuilding of the entire city. This chapter recounts in detail the lengthy legal, political, and financial dealings that culminated with the beginning of the actual project in 1836 (under the reign of the enlightened Muhammad Ali); the new study hall in the Hurvah courtyard (named “Menahem Ziyyon”) was dedicated in January 1837. The project continued to be opposed by Israel of Shklov, the leader of the Safed Perushim who objected to the independence of the Jerusalem Perushim (now led by Zalman Zoref [Salamon]); matters were complicated by competition for funding by Zevi Hirsch Lehren and his family and continued intra-Jewish rivalries. But the success of the project was seen by the Jerusalem Perushim as evidence that the redemption was underway in earnest, a sense confirmed by the tragic earthquake that destroyed most of the Safed community in 1837.

The beginning of the modern historical period in the Land of Israel was marked by the European powers’ new interest in the region and by the Jews’ own changed attitudes toward the Land. Jews began ...
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The beginning of the modern historical period in the Land of Israel was marked by the European powers’ new interest in the region and by the Jews’ own changed attitudes toward the Land. Jews began settling the Land in increasing numbers, largely in anticipation of the Messiah’s expected appearance in 1840; settlement continued even after those expectations were dashed. The new motives for Aliya were spiritual and religious under the oppression of the governments in Europe. Thus, due to the expansion of the yishuv, Western philanthropists used their influence to modernize Jerusalem. Jerusalem expanded beyond the old city walls, laying the basis for what would become West Jerusalem. Ultimately, it was only thanks to the existence of a Jewish yishuv in the Land of Israel during the first half of the 19th century that masses of Jews in the Diaspora as well as the nations of the world became aware of the reality of the Land of Israel as a place in which the Jewish nation could settle in the future.Less

Epilogue : Emergence of a Jewish Majority in Jerusalem

Arie Morgenstern

Published in print: 2006-07-01

The beginning of the modern historical period in the Land of Israel was marked by the European powers’ new interest in the region and by the Jews’ own changed attitudes toward the Land. Jews began settling the Land in increasing numbers, largely in anticipation of the Messiah’s expected appearance in 1840; settlement continued even after those expectations were dashed. The new motives for Aliya were spiritual and religious under the oppression of the governments in Europe. Thus, due to the expansion of the yishuv, Western philanthropists used their influence to modernize Jerusalem. Jerusalem expanded beyond the old city walls, laying the basis for what would become West Jerusalem. Ultimately, it was only thanks to the existence of a Jewish yishuv in the Land of Israel during the first half of the 19th century that masses of Jews in the Diaspora as well as the nations of the world became aware of the reality of the Land of Israel as a place in which the Jewish nation could settle in the future.

This concluding chapter sums up the key findings on the history of Palestinian monasticism during the period from 314 to 631. The history of the monasteries of the Judean desert began in 314. ...
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This concluding chapter sums up the key findings on the history of Palestinian monasticism during the period from 314 to 631. The history of the monasteries of the Judean desert began in 314. Monastic settlements were established in the desert areas east of Jerusalem and people from all parts of the Empire came to populate these new centres. These monasteries were not only places of worship, they were also an integral component of Byzantine society.Less

Conclusion

JOHN BINNS

Published in print: 1996-08-15

This concluding chapter sums up the key findings on the history of Palestinian monasticism during the period from 314 to 631. The history of the monasteries of the Judean desert began in 314. Monastic settlements were established in the desert areas east of Jerusalem and people from all parts of the Empire came to populate these new centres. These monasteries were not only places of worship, they were also an integral component of Byzantine society.

The early sixth century BCE was a time of almost unparalleled crisis for the Jewish people, as successive Babylonian invasions left Judah devastated and Jerusalem in ruins. The book of Ezekiel forms ...
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The early sixth century BCE was a time of almost unparalleled crisis for the Jewish people, as successive Babylonian invasions left Judah devastated and Jerusalem in ruins. The book of Ezekiel forms a commentary on these events, and explains in lurid detail how the fall of Jerusalem and subsequent exile are the result of moral failure. The present work demonstrates that many of the book's most distinctive ethical ideas can best be explained as a response to the experience of exile. Ezekiel has always been a controversial figure: his book has provoked strong reactions from its readers, and this is nowhere clearer than in questions of morality. Some commentators have been straightforwardly critical of Ezekiel's ethics, while others have taken a more positive view. This study takes a broad view of the book's moral concerns and priorities by looking at a range of different texts and issues.Less

Introduction

Andrew Mein

Published in print: 2006-01-05

The early sixth century BCE was a time of almost unparalleled crisis for the Jewish people, as successive Babylonian invasions left Judah devastated and Jerusalem in ruins. The book of Ezekiel forms a commentary on these events, and explains in lurid detail how the fall of Jerusalem and subsequent exile are the result of moral failure. The present work demonstrates that many of the book's most distinctive ethical ideas can best be explained as a response to the experience of exile. Ezekiel has always been a controversial figure: his book has provoked strong reactions from its readers, and this is nowhere clearer than in questions of morality. Some commentators have been straightforwardly critical of Ezekiel's ethics, while others have taken a more positive view. This study takes a broad view of the book's moral concerns and priorities by looking at a range of different texts and issues.

Jerusalem is important for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, it is important in different ways. Within Christianity, Jerusalem became de‐territorialized and a symbol for heaven. So Christian ...
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Jerusalem is important for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, it is important in different ways. Within Christianity, Jerusalem became de‐territorialized and a symbol for heaven. So Christian concern with Jerusalem is for free access to the holy sites. For Islam, Jerusalem is important because of its connection with Muhammad in Islamic tradition and because it was for many centuries part of the realm of Islam. For Judaism, the actual geographical place has always remained important, not just as a symbol of world peace, but of the hope of an ingathering on this earth of the people to their promised land. In all three religions at the moment, there is a terrible contrast between the symbolic aspects of Jerusalem and the present divided reality.Less

Jerusalem in Religious Perspective

Richard Harries

Published in print: 2003-07-03

Jerusalem is important for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, it is important in different ways. Within Christianity, Jerusalem became de‐territorialized and a symbol for heaven. So Christian concern with Jerusalem is for free access to the holy sites. For Islam, Jerusalem is important because of its connection with Muhammad in Islamic tradition and because it was for many centuries part of the realm of Islam. For Judaism, the actual geographical place has always remained important, not just as a symbol of world peace, but of the hope of an ingathering on this earth of the people to their promised land. In all three religions at the moment, there is a terrible contrast between the symbolic aspects of Jerusalem and the present divided reality.

The biopic genre requires that the hero confront hostility and opposition. The Gospels point to a bewildering array of Jewish groups who are hostile to Jesus: scribes, elders, chief priests, ...
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The biopic genre requires that the hero confront hostility and opposition. The Gospels point to a bewildering array of Jewish groups who are hostile to Jesus: scribes, elders, chief priests, Herodians (Mark 3:6), Pharisees, and Sadducees. But during Jesus' ministry, it is the Pharisees who constitute Jesus' most implacable opposition. Were the Pharisees merely another long-gone 1st-century Jewish sect, their portrayal would pose no problem for filmmakers. While the Pharisees are no longer in existence as such, they are nevertheless considered within the Jewish tradition to be the forerunners of the rabbis who shaped Jewish belief and practice as they are still known today. The filmmaker's dilemma arises from this contradiction between the Pharisees' hateful role as Jesus' enemies within the Christian scriptures and their heroic place in Jewish tradition. The danger is that in portraying the Pharisees as Jesus' harsh enemies, filmmakers become vulnerable to the charge of anti-Semitism.Less

The Pharisees

Adele Reinhartz

Published in print: 2007-02-01

The biopic genre requires that the hero confront hostility and opposition. The Gospels point to a bewildering array of Jewish groups who are hostile to Jesus: scribes, elders, chief priests, Herodians (Mark 3:6), Pharisees, and Sadducees. But during Jesus' ministry, it is the Pharisees who constitute Jesus' most implacable opposition. Were the Pharisees merely another long-gone 1st-century Jewish sect, their portrayal would pose no problem for filmmakers. While the Pharisees are no longer in existence as such, they are nevertheless considered within the Jewish tradition to be the forerunners of the rabbis who shaped Jewish belief and practice as they are still known today. The filmmaker's dilemma arises from this contradiction between the Pharisees' hateful role as Jesus' enemies within the Christian scriptures and their heroic place in Jewish tradition. The danger is that in portraying the Pharisees as Jesus' harsh enemies, filmmakers become vulnerable to the charge of anti-Semitism.

This chapter analyses the circular plan of Jerusalem in Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a synopsis of history widely disseminated and frequently adapted. The plan of ...
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This chapter analyses the circular plan of Jerusalem in Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a synopsis of history widely disseminated and frequently adapted. The plan of Jerusalem reveals how Peter of Poitiers modified and fused different sources, including Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica, to create a visually persuasive image of perfect formal and social order, with six gates foreshadowing the twelve gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The visual alignment of the plan of Jerusalem and other diagrams in the Compendium prompts the beholder to reflect on analogies of structures and events, and thus on the order and meaning of history. This argument extends to the late fifteenth-century diagram of the heavenly Jerusalem in Werner Rolewinck's Fasciculus temporum, which functions at the same time as a visualization of the Creed and as an allegorical image of the church, predetermined and eternal.Less

Andrea Worm

Published in print: 2012-04-26

This chapter analyses the circular plan of Jerusalem in Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a synopsis of history widely disseminated and frequently adapted. The plan of Jerusalem reveals how Peter of Poitiers modified and fused different sources, including Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica, to create a visually persuasive image of perfect formal and social order, with six gates foreshadowing the twelve gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The visual alignment of the plan of Jerusalem and other diagrams in the Compendium prompts the beholder to reflect on analogies of structures and events, and thus on the order and meaning of history. This argument extends to the late fifteenth-century diagram of the heavenly Jerusalem in Werner Rolewinck's Fasciculus temporum, which functions at the same time as a visualization of the Creed and as an allegorical image of the church, predetermined and eternal.

This book examines the history, teachings, and practices of a school of kabbalists who have flourished in the Middle East for the last two and a half centuries. The Beit El kabbalists center their ...
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This book examines the history, teachings, and practices of a school of kabbalists who have flourished in the Middle East for the last two and a half centuries. The Beit El kabbalists center their practice around the teachings of Shalom Sharʾabi, an 18th century Yemenite kabbalist who came to prominence in Jerusalem. Sharʾabi is considered by his acolytes to be the recipient of divine inspiration from the prophet Elijah. The practice itself is a form of mystical prayer, utilizing a specific underlying linguistic theory. The application of this theory extends to the entire religious practice of the Beit El kabbalists. The school drew on the Rabbinic elite of Jerusalem, Syria, the present‐day Baghdad, Persia and to the east. Its influence in North Africa was less strong and although it accumulated European adherents, the Hasidic movement moved to negate many of its ideas and practices. It became a dominant force in the Jerusalem chief Rabbinate of the late Ottoman empire. There remain, however, desiderata in the religious thinking of the Beit El kabbalists. This missing aspects of the practice cast doubt on whether the Beit El kabbalists can properly be called mystics, and whether the academy's identification of Kabbalah with Jewish mysticism.Less

Shalom Shar'abi and the Kabbalists of Beit El

Pinchas Giller

Published in print: 2008-03-06

This book examines the history, teachings, and practices of a school of kabbalists who have flourished in the Middle East for the last two and a half centuries. The Beit El kabbalists center their practice around the teachings of Shalom Sharʾabi, an 18th century Yemenite kabbalist who came to prominence in Jerusalem. Sharʾabi is considered by his acolytes to be the recipient of divine inspiration from the prophet Elijah. The practice itself is a form of mystical prayer, utilizing a specific underlying linguistic theory. The application of this theory extends to the entire religious practice of the Beit El kabbalists. The school drew on the Rabbinic elite of Jerusalem, Syria, the present‐day Baghdad, Persia and to the east. Its influence in North Africa was less strong and although it accumulated European adherents, the Hasidic movement moved to negate many of its ideas and practices. It became a dominant force in the Jerusalem chief Rabbinate of the late Ottoman empire. There remain, however, desiderata in the religious thinking of the Beit El kabbalists. This missing aspects of the practice cast doubt on whether the Beit El kabbalists can properly be called mystics, and whether the academy's identification of Kabbalah with Jewish mysticism.

The chapter studies four poems in which Halevi, still in al-Andalus, describes his longing for and vision of the Land of Israel. Among these poems is Halevi’s most famous poem, the Ode to Jerusalem. ...
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The chapter studies four poems in which Halevi, still in al-Andalus, describes his longing for and vision of the Land of Israel. Among these poems is Halevi’s most famous poem, the Ode to Jerusalem. It is interpreted as speaking not, as usually understood, on behalf of the people as a whole, but as the voice of an individual who, toward the end, becomes the spokesman of a small, elite group of Zion’s true devotees.Less

In Imagination

Raymond P. Scheindlin

Published in print: 2007-12-20

The chapter studies four poems in which Halevi, still in al-Andalus, describes his longing for and vision of the Land of Israel. Among these poems is Halevi’s most famous poem, the Ode to Jerusalem. It is interpreted as speaking not, as usually understood, on behalf of the people as a whole, but as the voice of an individual who, toward the end, becomes the spokesman of a small, elite group of Zion’s true devotees.